Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Love of the Spirit

Emily is an energetic junior, majoring in psychology and
minoring in religious studies. She loves being a Christian camp counselor in
the summer time!

John 14:16&17

I will ask the father
and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of
Truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

The
Holy Spirit is a wonderful blessing in our lives that we often don’t recognize.
In this passage Jesus is telling his disciples how they will know The Way once
he has left this earth. He tells them this new counselor, the Spirit of Truth,
will teach them of all things and remind them of what he has taught.

The
same counselor Jesus promised his disciples still dwells within us today and
every day. So often when we are faced with a challenge or decision or conflict
of any sort we are advised to pray; and so we do. But then what? There is no
standard answer but the best I can come up with is to listen in our hearts for
the Spirit of Truth. Our answers cannot come from the world—from media or how
to books or standard expectations of society—because the world does not know
God’s Spirit. But it must come from within.

The
Bible has many names for the Spirit: Intercessor, Helper, Counselor, Comforter.
These imply that there will still be problems we face. But “the God within” can
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It can remind and teach us of all
things, it can comfort us, it can guide us to answers or relief and it can
bring us into the greatest presence of God. Allow his Spirit to fill you up
today by carry it in your heart and keeping it on you mind.